‘Criminalising Extreme Pornography: Five Years On’ – Introduction to the Blog Carnival and a Storify by Chris Ashford

This Blog Carnival follows from the ‘Criminalising Extreme Pornography: Five Years On’ seminar which took place on 8th May 2013 at Durham University, marking five years since the passage of legislation criminalising the possession of extreme pornography. The seminar brought together academics, activists, policy-makers and other regulatory authorities to evaluate the success or failure of the legislation and to ask what, if any, reforms are necessary to secure progress toward this objective. Delegates were encouraged to tweet using the hashtag #EP5

S63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 criminalises the possession of extreme pornographic images, defined as those produced ‘solely or principally for the purposes of sexual arousal’, is ‘grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character’ and portrays, ‘in an explicit and realistic way’, any of the following—

an act which threatens a person’s life,

an act which results, or is likely to result, in serious injury to a person’s anus, breasts, or genitals,

an act which involves sexual interference with a human corpse, or

a person performing an act of intercourse or oral sex with an animal (whether dead or alive)

This week, we will be posting a number of contributions written by speakers at the seminar, discussing the current legislation and proposed reforms, in the UK and internationally. We hope that this will continue the interesting debates and discussions that we saw at the seminar, and provide a useful resource for individuals and groups thinking about the extreme pornography laws.

We would like to thank everyone contributing to the Blog Carnival and invite our readers to join in the discussion in the comments.